I had intended to take more pictures, and write a better story, but I left the camera in the hotel room and then about the craziest storm I've ever been out in landed right on top of us...

Before I even started this trip, I was put in a bad mood. The head gasket on my camaro failed and I-29 became impassable. This turned a short, fast little trip into an exploration of the Iowa countryside in a Honda Accord. Look, I like our car, and Iowa isn't the problem - it's just not what I wanted when I planned this trip. Additionally, I was wavering on taking my 3 year old daughter, but if I was taking the car and leaving my wife with nothing, I felt some obligation to lighten her load for a few days. I decided to take the kid. And the Accord.

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I received this in my email today...

via i1127.photobucket.com

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In regards to Brendan Morrow's efforts in his 1-hit shutout...

"He was putting guys away better than anybody I’ve ever seen," Longoria said.

Aside from the obvious A's-related point of this post, I was glad to see Dan Johnson get his next chance at MLB.  I guess I'm still a little unsure how he couldn't stick with the A's - he's always seemed like a nice enough guy and I always thought he'd put a .375/.450 line up in the majors...

Just making good on my threat from earlier this year.

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This is my second fan post.  Much to my surprise, my first went really well so I'm trying this again.  Actually, this is three posts in one so maybe this is three times the value for your fanpost dollar.  I actually started this in November (more on that in a second) but then waited and then procrastinated.  Would you believe I actually desired at one point to try to apply to write some of the front page articles?  What a dreamer. Anyhow, I got to thinking about this again over a month ago when the MLB schedules started to tighten up but felt like waiting to see if someone would jump on it first.

Who's traveling this summer?  Are you planning on seeing the A's play anywhere other than Oakland?  I actually was just really curious if anyone had planned out a trip for themselves and wanted to hear about it, maybe even ask some questions.  Specifically, was anyone checking out Chicago and/or St. Louis in June?  Part of me wanted to offer some wager to see who'd go to more A's games NOT in Oakland, but that's really just a bet to be won by an A's fan in say, Chicago, where they'd be a couple of hours driving distance to several cities the A's would play several series in.  In 2004 it was loads of fun to see all the other A's fans in Chicago for the series against the Cubs, and I really want to go back this year.  (off topic:  when the discussion about the A's new home invariably comes to wondering if it's better or not to have a community with restaurants and bars and whatnot around a baseball stadium, it's almost no more glaring what the answer should be after you spend about a day in Wrigleyville)  I guess what I hoped was to let someone know that if they're traveling to Dallas the last weekend in July that someone here would be interested in a story with pictures.  

I also of course wanted to babble about my own plans, but figured I'd offer you guys up first and then I could pretend I was really interested in other's stories.  Like I said, I started writing this in November and looking at it now it just seems silly.  So, I'm truncating it in the most severe manner.  I started reading what I had written and wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about reading it now as I was then.  

I went to the HOF last summer to see Rickey get inducted and while I've witnessed some awfully interesting and wonderful A's moments, this is easily the topper.  I told all my friends we had to go - and if there was one reason it's that we really just don't know the next time an A's player will get inducted.  In fact, I'm in the boat with those that think that whoever is the next player the A's do get into the HOF isn't currently in their system.  For that matter, he might not have even entered high school.  In other words, it's so far off in the future that's almost pointless to pretend we'll get another chance at this.  

Because of that, this is totally a once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal.  The trip itself was an epic worthy of several posts and being in Cooperstown that weekend is really something else.  You get to see your favorite player ever ever ever deseveredly go into the HOF, you get to see Pete Rose sit by himself (well, he had some other person there with him) and you get to see a small town try to contain itself.  One of the things that I found so fantastic about it was the limit to the intrustive authority.  The police weren't lining the streets or barricading the neighborhoods.  It felt really homey in a weird sort of way.  I can't recall another time where umpteenthousands of people got together and there wasn't at least one person to yell at me, "You can't go over there!  Stand behind the line!"  To put that in perspective, I went to a comedy show in December and no less than 3 people had to tell me where to park in the parking lot.  Where they weren't charging for parking.  And two of them felt the need to play MAGNANIMOUS JERK when they allowed me to park there.  They weren't charging for parking and the lot wasn't half full at best, but if one was going to the comedy show, they parked in this part of the lot, if they were going to restaurant, they parked in this part, and you start to the get the picture.  None of that in Cooperstown - at least none of that for the pedestrian.  

And I have to offer proof not only of my existence, but also that I existed in Cooperstown.  It's also, subtely, proof that my friends flaked on the trip and missed out.  

via img14.imageshack.us

Also, I just learned something.  If you're using notepad to write your post before pasting it into the webpage, turn word wrap OFF.

My first fanpost.  It's already terrible.

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